SA doesn’t have many undecided voters - analyst

Mashego’s comment came as various political parties wrapped up their final rallies on Sunday in an effort to convince voters to support them in the upcoming elections.

On Wednesday, millions of eligible South African voters are expected to flock the voting stations across the country to elect leaders of their choice.

Mashego said citizens will be basing their votes on load shedding, water shortages, the high crime rate, and unemployment.

“I don’t think it matters who filled the stadiums because previously, the number of people needed to get into Parliament was around 40,000. This means if you fill an 80,000-seater stadium, you only get two seats in Parliament, which does not get you anywhere.

“I think South Africa is one of those countries that doesn’t have undecided voters, given that there are so many political parties to choose from. There are people who are going to vote a certain way no matter what happens. A typical example is those who will say I want to vote for the party of Mandela. Hence, the ANC always pushed the Mandela card.    

“This is the time for social media advertising because, in a few days’ time, parties are no longer going to be allowed to campaign. So, any party that can convince the people that voting now is important but it’s about what is going to happen after the ballot that is going to matter more than the vote, I think that party might be able to scrape (get more voters)”.  

Mashego said more still needs to be done to educate voters about how the law, democracy and voting process work.

“A majority of South Africans equate voting with democracy, that’s why they vote and then go and protest because they think they have done their democratic duty and now the political parties must do their part, whereas it’s the other way around. The democratic duty of citizens is to hold the parties accountable even if you did not vote for that party.”    

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